Measuring the response of soft fruits to robotic handling

Abstract

• Demonstrates that the current approaches to benchmark robot gripper performances to handle agri-food products are insufficient because they do not consider subtle and latent effects (which appear later in the supply chains) of robotic handling and only focus on the immediate bruises. • Demonstrates that soft robotic grippers cannot be considered by default suitable for handling soft fruits. • First to introduce a method to quantitatively measure pathogen spread by robotic end-effectors. • Brings together robotics, sensing, plant physiology and microbiology researchers to measure the impact of robotic grippers on soft fruits. The development of robotic end-effectors for handling soft, biologically active agri-food products, such as fruits and vegetables, has progressed significantly. However, understanding how these grippers impact the quality and integrity of the products remains a challenge. This study presents a comprehensive methodology to evaluate the impact of robotic grasping on soft fruits, specifically strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. We combined the traditional visual inspection and spectral analysis to assess both immediate and subtle changes in fruit quality after robotic handling. We also assess the potential of robotic grippers to transmit pathogens, providing insights into the hygiene aspects of automated food handling. Our findings show that both hard and soft grippers can cause damage to fragile fruits. While visual methods can detect obvious damage, such as bruising, spectral analysis allows detection of more subtle changes. This study provides a robust framework for evaluating grippers and emphasizes the importance of understanding the biological characteristics of the products being handled to design effective robotic grippers. One-Sentence Summary: A new methodology combining visual and spectral analysis to reveal the impact of robotic grippers on the quality and hygiene of soft fruits.